Internal-combustion engine.



G. Y. KNIGHT. INTERNAL COMBUSTiON ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED APR.23, 1909.

Patented Feb. 23, 1915.

LKQQJMQD KNIGHT AMERICAN PATENTS COMPANY, A. CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

niaaioi.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented net. as, rare.

Original application filed. October 10, 1908, Serial No. 457,057. Divided and this application filed April 23,

' 1909. Serial No. 491,841.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, CHARLES Y. KNIGHT, a citizen of the United States of America, residing. at 154 Lake street, Chicago, in the county of-Cook and State of Illinois, United States of America, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Internal- Combustion. Engines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

My invention relates to internal combustion engines, and particularly to petrol en'- gines and the like, which are required to run at high speeds, but the invention is not necessarily limited to high speed engines.

The improvement set forth and claimed in this application has more especial referencejto means whereby the same port is utilized both for the intake and exhaust, and the application is a division of my pending application, Serial No. 457,057, filed October 10th, 1908.

The invention has for its primar object to so construct the engine that the 1111 area of inlet and exhaust can be obtained very rapidly and a larger port area obtained than'has been heretofore possible, so that the charge can be quickly taken into the cylinder and the exhaust" products very quickly expelled.

Further objects of the invention will ap- .pear in the following'specification read in the light of the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

The invention consistsl of the. novel combinations and features hereinafter more fully described, shown in the drawings, and particularly pointed'out in the claims.

In the said drawings Figure 1 is a vertical section through the cylinder of an engine constructed in accordance with-this invention. with the ports open to exhaust.- Fig. 2 isa section showing the ports open for admission of the mixture. 1

The invention is illustrated in connection with the sleeve valve type of engine inwhich the means for controlling fluid admission to and exhaust from the combustion or explosion space of the engine embodies a pair of coaxial sleeves arranged coaxially wlth the working piston and situated within a fixed cylinder. In the preferable form of the invention, these features are employed in conjunction with water cooling means for radiating the heat from these sliding sleeves ably water cooled and projects from the main cylinder into the inner one of the said sliding sleeves for closing the end of the latter and also controlling' the port therein during the compression and firing strokes of the piston. v Describing the invention more in detail n connection with an engine of this type, it will be seen that l[ provide a cylinder a which is the fixed cylinder, having a surrounding water jacket I) and oppositely disposed exhaust ports 0. The upper part of the cylinder a is closed by the water cooled head at in which is formed a combustion chamber 9. Suitable spring rings p are provided to make tight'joint between this cylinder head and the inner sleeve h, the position and function of which are well understood by those skilled in this art. An annular space f is left between the head Z andthe cylinder a, the upper ends of the two sleeves, the inner sleeve 72., just referred to, and the outer sleeve 9. These sleeves g h are arranged and slide concentrically Within the main cylinder a and are provided with ports 2', j, respectively. Thesleeves g, it, are operated n accordance with the four-stroke cycle by two eccentrics is, Z, respectively, which are preferably placed 90 degrees. Rotation at half the speed of the engine crank shaft is given to these eccentrics by any suitable means. The working piston m is placed within theinner sleeve 71..

The upper end of the outside sleeve 9 is formed with or carries an annular flange gj bearing against the inner side of the wall of the cylinder a and is provided with a peripheral piston ring 0. I

The intake port of the engine is shown at n and is preferably so spaced from one of the exhaust ports 0 as to allow the annular flange g to play up and down between the two ports n and c in such a Way as to at one time direct the fluid admission from the intake port through the adjacent annular space between the head and the cylinder a, and into the combustion space of the engine and into this project I via the port or'ports' of 'the inner sleeve,

and at another time to out Oh fluid admission from the intake port and open communication withthe exhaust'ports 0 through the two ports 2', j, in the sleeves when these two ports come into register. In order to insure against leakage, the flange 9 may be provided with an ordinary piston ring 0 which bears against the face of the cylinder wall a. The flange g is annular in form and offset from the sleeves so as to form a space of "the engine through the portsy' in the sleeve h when the sleeve 9 is in its lowest position, as shown in Fig. 2. The ports i in the outer sleeve are adapted to register 'With the ports j in'the inner sleeve h and with the exhaust ports 0 in the fixed cylinder. when the sleeve 9 is in its upper position, as shown in Fig. 1, whereupon communication with the induction or intake port at is cut ofi' and communication between exhaust port or ports c and the explosion space is established directly through the ports 2', j in ,the sleeves.

In this construction, it will be seen, therefore, that the two sleeves in conjunction wi,th the internal head d, the fixed cylinder and the annular'flange g constitute a means for controlling fluid admission to and exhaust from thecombustion space of the en girls and by the employment of the port controllingprovisions g on the outer sleeve, I'am enabled to utilize the whole available PQ t area of the inner sleeve for both fluid admission to and exhaust from the combustion space, and consequently it requires but a comparatively short movement of the sleeves to obtain an area of port opening which is double that obtained with the ordinary sliding sleeve arrangement heretofore employed, and as a consequence, the possible speed of the engine is greatly increased, while the temperature of the upper portion of the cylinder and sleeves is more easily kept uniform to guard against or prevent disltiortion and overheating at local points.

avin'g now described my invention,what I claim is: I I

1. An internal combustion engine having a combustion space and embodying in combination a cylinder provided with intake and exhaustports, a slidable cylindrical element coaxial with the combustion space and 35 having a port, common to both intake and exhaust, leading 'therei'nto, means cooperating with said element and last said port for controlling fluid admission to and exhaust from. the combustion space, embodying means for alternately connecting the last said port with the intake and exhaust ports, a working piston in said combustion space, and means connecting the piston with the first said means.

An internal combustion engine having a combustion space and embodying in combination a cylindrical element surrounding the combustion space and forming the side wall thereof and provided with a. port common to both intake and exhaust, and means operatively connected with the piston for alternately connecting the last said port with said exhaust port and intake port.

3. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of a fixed cylinder having intake and exhaust ports, two cylindrical elements telescoped one over the other within said cylinder and slidable with relation to one and another and to said cylinder, said cylindrical elements having ports adapted to register for fluid admission to and exhaust from the inner one of said cylindrical elements, means fixed with relation to the said fixed cylinder and arranged coaxial with the inner one of said cylindrical elements for closing the end thereof, and with relation to which the said cylindrical elements reciprocate, port controlling provisions provided around one of said cylindrical elements for shutting off communication between said intake port of the fixed cylinder and the ports in the said cylindrical elements when the ports in the latter are in register with one another and with said exhaust port, and for shutting off communication between the port of the inner one of said elements and the exhaust port of the fixed cylinder when the ports of said elements are out of register and the port of the inner one of said elements is out of lapped IGldEtlOII with the said means for closing its en 4. An internal combustion engine having a combustion space and embodying in combination a fixed cylinder coaxial with the combustion space and having intake and exhaust ports, the engine embodying also a passage connecting the combustion space with both the said intake and exhaust ports, a crank shaft, a Working piston operatively connected thereto and arranged in the combustion space coax-ially therewith, means for controlling fluid admission to and exhaust from said combustion space, operatively connected with the piston and embodying two coaxial sleeves having ports adapted to register with one another and with said passage and port controlling provisions on one of said sleeves intercepting direct communication between said intake and exhaust ports and movable with relation to the port of one of said sleeves for alternately establishing communication between the last said port and the intake and exhaust ports.

r 5. An internal combustion engine having a combustion space and'embodying in combination a fixed cylinder coaxial with the combustion space and having intake and exhaust ports, the engine embodying also a passage connecting the combustion space with both the said intake and exhaust ports, a crank shaft, a working piston operatively connected therewith in the combustion space, means for controlling fluid admission to and exhaust fromthe combustion space operatively connected with the piston and embodying a fixed head coaxial with said cylinder, a sleeve encompassing said head, a second sleeve encompassing said first sleeve and slidable thereover, said sleeves having ports for admitting fluid to and exhausting fluid from said combustion space, and port controlling provisions on the outer one of said'sleeves arranged in said passage and intercepting direct communication between the intake and exhaust ports, and means op eratively connecting said sleeves with said crank shaft for moving said port controlling provisions during a part of one revolution of the crank shaft to a position to establish communication between the intake port and port of the inner sleeve and cut off communication between said ports and the exhaust port, and during another part of the revolution of the crank shaft to cut otl" communication between said intake port and the port of the inner sleeve and establish communication-between the last said port and the exhaust port. 7

6. An internal combustion engine having a combustion space and embodying in combination a fixed cylinder provided with intake and exhaust ports, a crank shaft, a working piston operatively connected therewith and arranged in said combustion space, a head projecting into said cylinder and fixed with relationthereto, a sleeve slidable over said head, a second sleeve slidable over said first sleeve, said sleeves having ports adapted to register and having their upper ends situated in the space between said head and the face of the fixed cylinder, and an annular flange on the outer one of said sleeves, situated in said space and intercepting direct communication between said intake and exhaust ports and movable during a part of the revolution of the crank shaft to a position to establish communication between the intake port and the port of the inner sleeve and during another part of such revolution to a position to establish communication between the exhaust port and the port of the inner sleeve when the ports of the two sleeves come into register.

7. An internal combustion engine having a'combustion space and embodying in combination a fixed cylinder provided with intake and exhaust ports, a crank shaft, a working piston operatively connected therewith and arranged in said combustion space, a head fixed withrelation to the cylinder and projecting thereinto and spaced from the walls thereof, a sleeve embracing and slidable over said head, a second sleeve embracing and slidable over said first sleeve, said sleeves having ports adapted to register, a flange offset from and connected to the outer one of said sleeves and situated in the space betwecn'the head and cylinder and intercepting direct communication between said intake and exhaust ports, said flange being movable to a position below the port of the inner sleeve to establish communication between the latter port and the intake port, and movable to a position above the port of the inner sleeve to establish communication between,the last said port and the exhaust port, and means connecting said sleeves with the crank shaft.

8. An internal combustion engine having a combustion space and embodying a cylinder provided with intake and exhaust ports, a movable sleeve constituting a wall for the combustion space aforesaid provided with a port common to both the intake and the exhaust ports aforesaid, a port controlling sleeve concentrically arranged with respect to the sleeve aforesaid embodying means for connecting the port of the wall of the combustion chamber alternately with the intake and exhaust ports of the cylinder, a working ..piston in the combustion space, and means for connecting the piston with the portcontrolling sleeve.

In testimon whereof I aflix my signature in presence 0 two witnesses.

CHARLES Y. KNIGHT. Witnesses:

PERCIVAL M. DAvms, THOMAS H. WEST. 

